This invention relates generally to traffic delineators, and more particularly to a stackable plastic barricade for traffic delineation purposes.
The development of plastic traffic delineation devices, such as plastic barricades, has significantly increased the safety of automotive transportation. If a wood or metal barricade is struck by an automobile, the automobile may be seriously damaged, causing injury to the occupants of the automobile, and the barricade may be destroyed. If an automobile strikes a plastic barricade, the resilient, lightweight barricade causes significantly less damage to the vehicle, which reduces the risk of injury to the vehicle occupants, and the barricade is often not seriously damaged.
For ease of manufacture and use, plastic barricades are often made in two identical pieces. To assemble the barricade, one of the pieces is rotated about its lengthwise axis and matched to the other piece. Bolts are typically used to hinge the two pieces together.
One of the problems with plastic barricades is that of stacking. The plastic is smooth, and so when stacked the barricades have a tendency to slide off. To solve this problem, stacking lugs have been added to faces of the barricades. Previously, barricades have been sold that included two small circular stacking lugs formed near the top of the face of each piece, with two circular indentations near the bottom of each face in which the stacking lugs were inserted when the barricades were stacked. Another design, depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,912, included rectangular stacking lugs and corresponding indentations along the vertical supports of the barricades.
These prior stacking lug mechanisms had disadvantages. For instance, when barricades having the lugs were stacked, the lugs on the bottom face of the bottom barricade were often crushed by the weight of the barricades. This resulted in the stacking lug being deformed and unusable.
In a warehouse, workers could avoid crushing the stacking lugs by using specially designed pallets that had gaps at positions in which the stacking lugs could be inserted. However, these special pallets are more expensive than regular pallets and require special handling by the workers. Furthermore, in construction areas, no such pallets are used, and thus the stacking lugs frequently were crushed.
Signs are often mounted on the front face of plastic barricades. Stacking lugs positioned along the vertical legs of the barricades interfere with such signs, preventing the sign from laying flat against the face of the barricade. As a result, when securely mounted to the barricade, a sign may bend, bow or misalign.